GRAINS Australia has announced the barley varieties, Cyclops and Neo CL, have been successfully accredited as malting barley.

Both were accredited following evaluation by the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee under the Grains Australia malting barley classification program.

Cyclops was submitted by Australian Grain Technologies and is a high fermentability variety. It has broad adaptation and is best suited to low to moderate rainfall regions across Australia. 

Neo CL, submitted by InterGrain, is an imidazolinone tolerant, high fermentability variety. 

It is a mid-maturing barley ideally suited to medium-high rainfall environments across Australia.

Grains Australia general manager classification Megan Sheehy said Grains Australia’s classification program was recognised as the required standard for the determination of all new Australian malting barley varieties.

“As with all previous accredited malting barley varieties, the market will determine the success of these new varieties,” she said.

“We congratulate AGT and InterGrain and their teams which have worked to bring these new varieties to the marketplace.”

Grains Australia’s Accredited Malting Varieties table has been updated to reflect the newly accredited varieties and the status of other varieties under evaluation. The Preferred Varieties table has also been updated.

Grains Australia provides services and functions to the grains industry, including management of trade and market access, classification, market insights and market education to improve the industry’s profitability.

Grains Australia is an initiative of the Grains Research and Development Corporation, which drives grains research, development and extension in Australia.

For  information on other barley varieties under-going evaluation for malting, go to grainsaustralia.com.au/master-lists/malting-variety-list.